That’s right, I said it. It doesn’t matter if you are a believer in the afterlife, or a believer in “Supreme Beings” or if the “hell” in question is a condition in this life when we settle for less than the best of humanity has to offer.

I think of this quote and how it might apply to the current tizzy over the development of a mosque in lower Manhattan. Such a fuss is being made. Sadly, it takes a silly development such as this to rouse the passion of some and to stir the media frenzy of too many talking heads.

I’m surprised at how many people in the past have misunderstood my stated position on the mosque. Or perhaps they were intentionally blown out of proportion for some calculated purpose. In the USA, it is clearly within the rights of the group to build a mosque and having cleared local zoning issues, for any powers to deny them their right to build a mosque would be an injustice as I see it. More importantly, that’s how the U.S. Constitution sees it. No clear thinking American should deny the right of the Muslims to build their mosque at 51 Park Place.

Still, the Muslims in their theocentric wisdom must hear the message loud and clear: the mosque should not be built at 51 Park Place. Yes everyone knows they CAN build it, far fewer believe they SHOULD build it. I fall into that category. As for all of the posturing taking place on both sides of the issue, the circus and poor behavior of those staunchly opposed to the mosque displays the worst about America and they fall squarely in the trap of Muslims who want to create an American boogeyman. I am embarrassed by the behavior of Americans whipped into irrational behavior by the current events and the protestations in lower Manhattan.

To be clear, the building at the center of the controversy, two blocks from the World Trade Center, is not really “worlds away,” as some like to describe. Two blocks from anything is still in the immediate neighborhood. In this case, being two blocks away from the World Trade Center placed it close enough for the landing gear and a wheel from one of the jetliners to crash into the roof and side of the building. This collateral damage makes the site an actual part of “Ground Zero” in my estimation.

Even in highly congested Manhattan, two blocks away is still close by. Ask any Manhattan resident and they will say ones “immediate neighborhood” tends to be 4 or 5 blocks from our location in either direction – at an absolute minimum. For more active residents, taking myself as an example, my neighborhood is approximately 10 blocks in any direction. That would be 20 blocks from the far northern tip to the far southern tip of my “neighborhood.” According to New York’s grid pattern, 20 blocks equals one mile, give or take. Manhattan is comprised of dozens of such neighborhoods, like a string of pearls on a necklace, one after the other. My favorite video store, which I patronize regularly is nine blocks from my Manhattan apartment. It takes me all of 8 minutes to get there on foot if I’m in a hurry. A more leisurely stroll might take 10-11 minutes.

So, the proposed mosque, being two blocks north and a half block inwards, doesn’t not even come close to being what has been described as “world’s away.” And here is where the argument is relevant. There are tens of thousands of survivors of the 9-11 attack. Many go to work in that neighborhood every day. The walking wounded are all around us. I happened to be downtown that day and survived and did many others. For tens of thousands of us, the scars we carry with us from September 11th are invisible. But these are wounds that are with us day and night nearly a decade later. Psychologically or emotionally, many of those who experienced the attack in person (not on television from a safe, unknown distance,) may never fully recover. For many of us, we have lost a decade of our lives in the way our world’s were altered. Nearly a decade later I pass Ground Zero and shake my head in disgust at all of the tourists, primarily Americans who come to gawk. Especially just after the attack, when the streets reopened to civilian traffic, tourists were having their picture taken and the ensuing excitable frenzy resembled Carnival more than it did a burial ground. Shameful then and it is shameful now.

Out of consideration for so many people who continue to live with the trauma of the attack, the mosque, if it had “community interests” in mind, above all else, would agree internally, out of “sensitivity” to the community and to show grace and tolerance and understanding, to do the right thing and move the mosque beyond what is still considered the immediate neighborhood. The leadership of the mosque project, if they were attuned to the feelings of the community and if they wanted to do the right thing, would have tabled the project before it started to circulate among the media outlets. It tells me the mosque leadership either does not have the better interests of the community in mind or that perhaps this is all one big publicity stunt. Now after weeks of negative reactions from both the public and the media, mosque leaders can claim to take the high road but that the exercise exposes just how narrow minded and bigoted America really is! You see! They’ll say…there is no freedom of religion in America! “We pulled back the curtain and showed the world the reality!” mosque leaders will scream. I can already see this playing out on Al Jazeera and media outlets throughout the Middle East.

New York City as a geographic territory is larger than 300 square miles. New York City is larger than 51 separate nation-states that are scattered around the globe. There are countless other places to build their mosque in New York City. The Governor of New York, Gov. David Patterson even offered to give the Muslim community other land for free to satisfy any slighted notions. Free land in New York City? What other group gets an offer like that? Yet the group is determined at this stage in the development to pursue a mosque directly in Ground Zero. If they insist on building another mosque in the downtown area, as other mosques already exist, it should follow the cultural definition of a neighborhood and out of respect for those who survived the heinous attacks and out of respect for all of those who lost a loved one, move their mosque at least eight more blocks away so that it is not in the immediate vicinity. Finally, for those who don’t know, downtown Manhattan is not exactly the home of a large residential Muslim community. People would have to commute into downtown to use the facility. This is important to recognize, because it shoots a hole in the argument that having the mosque at 51 Park Place is a necessity.

In Manhattan, like many other urban cores around the world that have been centuries in the making, we walk among the ghosts of those who have fallen before us. Nearly every square block of lower Manhattan represents some ghastly site, some atrocious act. Men and women who died but whose mere existence and struggles were simply swept under the carpet of history. In Manhattan, London, Beijing or any city – take your pick, countless numbers have died and without wealth, fame and or prominence were not even worthy of a footnote in history books. Walking along the streets of Greenwich Village, I pass countless row houses and townhomes and think how many people inside those walls took their last breath and closed their eyes for good. I walk past shops where robberies, kidnappings and murders occurred and not even a plaque memorializing the events hang on the wall. People want to forget the horrors, yet death, history and signs of rebirth are all around us. In one hundred years, when all of the survivors of the World Trade Center attack are dead, the events of September 11th may seem like a footnote in American history. And in 400 years if America as we know it still exists, the horrors of 9-11 will undoubtedly be supplanted by more recent, more horrifying events that capture the public’s attention. That – THAT, would be the perfect time to build a mosque within the neighborhood of Ground Zero.

Some have compared the building of this mosque to the Japanese building a “cultural center” at the entrance to Pearl Harbor, Newt Gingrich among them. Others have rightfully asked if the Germans would allow a Youth Center for Aryan teens to be built across the street from Auschwitz. Still other examples beg the question if an American Museum of Military History would be tolerated at Ground Zero of Nagasaki or Hiroshima and lastly, what would be the reaction to the Celtic League of Western New York should they choose to celebrate the courage, personal fortitude and the freedom of defending American liberty of one Timothy McVeigh and erect a statue to him across from the sight of his Oklahoma City bombing. Many on the far left have criticized such comparisons. I am prompted to throw my martini at my flat screen when Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann ridicule mosque opponents as hateful bigots too closed minded to accept tolerance and diversity in a greater world. I am especially disappointed with my Gay sister Rachel Maddow. In the third edition of “The Gay State” which was released this summer, I proclaimed Ms. Maddow as “one of the greatest Lesbians in the history of the world.” She, of all the talking heads, as much as I adore her and support her right to condemn others by virtue of her place on the airwaves, should know much better. Rachel Maddow, a Lesbian scholar and professional; no empty-headed suit is she; knows full well that no group in all of the recorded history of the world has done more to savagely brutalize, murder, oppress and obliterate the global Gay community as the hate-filled Muslims. Frankly, the Nazi’s killed fewer Gay people than have the Muslims. I at least expected fairness from her, knowing the atrocities the Muslims have been capable of. But her unbridled political correctness and uncontained elitism is preventing her from seeing all sides of the issue and handling it fairly.

So as I write this and you, gentle reader, digest my words, know that I merely am trying to explain and flush out my answer to readers who have reacted negatively to my earlier statements. However, I have not changed my position in the slightest and I stand by my earlier posting on the mosque debate. My concern in writing is not to dictate what the American policy should be. My concern is what the policy would be in our Gay nation-state. In our Gay nation-state, mosques, just as all houses of worship, will be allowed if the followers of a particular faith desire one. As I have already stated repeatedly, more damage has been done to my people in houses of worship than any other singular type of facility in all of world history. So in our Gay nation-state, no religion will be allowed to spew their hateful venom on our shores. They can preach the best they have to offer, but we will not allow them to bring their condemnations into our new homeland.

Furthermore, churches will be required to keep their messages sequestered within their houses of worship. Like our military, and soldiers like the clergy, will remain in their barracks or churches until called upon. They will not and cannot pollute the greater good of society with their narrow theocentric views.

All faiths will be welcome in our Gay nation-state. Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam will be welcome as will every other religion, great, large or small. And hundreds of other, smaller faiths will receive the same welcome mat. Quakers, Amish, Animists and Wiccan’s will have their edifices from which to speak of love and the betterment of humankind within their houses of worship. If a group of believers bow down and hail the Slinky toy, it is their choosing and no concern of the government.

Throughout the world, some cities enact zoning to keep problematic industries from sprouting up in otherwise pleasant neighborhoods. Toward that end, just as some cities keep their strip joints and hoses of “exotic dance” and brothels in certain districts, we will enforce a similar policy to keep all religious houses in one district or zone. We will establish this zone from the very beginning of our Gay nation-state so this zone will be given its due prominence, affording ease and convenience to all worshippers. We will build this zone to complement grand houses of worship and the small centers of niche religions. I personally favor an enormous circle with a magnificent park in the center. IT would be very contemplative, soothing and soulful place. ON the outer ring of the circle would house all of the religious compounds. Cathedrals of every order would be built where congregants could practice their piety. Religious campuses and schools would be built side by side, allowing for greater tolerance and understanding among them all.

We envision a house of Catholic worship will be next to a compound for Taoists. The Presbyterians will have a splendid center next to the practicing Sunnis. A Jewish Synagogue would be built next to a home for the Amish. And so on and so forth. Side by side. In fellowship and mutual respect. No one in our Gay nation-state will be allowed to feel slighted when it comes to religious freedom. Yet we will reserve the right to establish boundaries of physicality and where such reverence will be performed for the general public. As all of these world’s religions jostle about to show they follow one true God, let them begin by making concessions and accommodations to one another. I believe the Gay society, more than any other society in the world, understands the necessity for tolerance and the need for sensitivity. The Muslims, just one of many religions, could stand to learn a bit about fellowship and tolerance from us. Otherwise, this whole kerfuffle about the Ground Zero mosque could have been avoided. They should no more build their mosque adjacent to Ground Zero than the Gay culture would insist on building a Gay Social and Cultural Center next to an elementary school in the most conservative town you could think of in, say South Carolina, Mississippi or Oklahoma. Obviously, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Gay culture or Gay society. But we all know our building such a facility next to an elementary school would only serve to enflame the parents and members of the school. We are sensitive enough to the feelings and perspectives of others that we would not choose to disrupt and damage others to make a point. We could even build a Gay church next to the elementary school, but again, why?

Finally, as for the quote that serves as the headline to this article: “Indifference to Injustice is the Gateway to Hell.” The quote is from artist Harriet Feigenbaum. It can be seen etched into the New York State Supreme Court building and might be a warning to those who will not stand and defend their rights. The Gay nation-state, as in the United States, we will defend our citizens and their right to worship freely and as they choose. But no group, and to the Muslims of lower Manhattan, I now speak directly to you; no group will be allowed to use their pious doctrine to browbeat their fellow citizenry into having its religious doctrine shoved where it isn’t welcome.

Summary: The reality is every day, thousands of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender people are murdered, beaten, executed, imprisoned and psychologically abused because of who they are and who they love and after 3,000 years of brutal oppression, the global Gay community is saying “Enough!” They want peace, freedom and liberty and they want it NOW! This growing movement for Gay independence and Gay nationalism is rallying around their newly elected President, Garrett Graham, proclaiming a call to arms in his “Gay Manifesto.”

(New York, NY) – FIGS – the Free, Independent Gay State, an international organization representing the global Gay community, has elected Garrett Graham as President to a three year term. Members of the governing body reside on six of the seven continents. In the twenty seven voting blocks, Graham garnered 73 percent of the vote. The remaining 27 percent of the votes were cast for two other candidates, Jack Smith of Sydney, Australiaand Gabriel Silva of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Membership in the FIGS party is rapidly expanding around the world. Members are known to one another as “Figgies” and advocate for a politically autonomous Gay Nation-State and stress their demands for Gay independence. “At no time in modern history, have conditions been more favorable, nor do I suspect conditions will improve if we wait any longer. This is a unique moment in time and Gay people everywhere are demanding equality, freedom and liberty and they want it now,” Graham said from his New York office. Interest and membership in FIGS has been growing rapidly. “Of course our people exist in every nation on Earth and unfortunately, the LGBT community is oppressed and persecuted in 95 percent of all nations. Conditions are shameful in America, but the situation is even worse in most other countries,” he added.

Graham has devoted more than twenty five years of his life as a Gay activist, promoting international Gay equality. As a human rights mediator and university lecturer, Graham has travelled extensively. As an author, his book The Gay State: The Quest for an Independent Gay Nation-State and what It Means to Conservatives and the World’s Religions is due to be released in late Spring. The book is a 21st Century “Gay Manifesto” that is inspired by the work of Theodor Herzl and Thomas Paine, two intellectuals and visionaries who motivated a people to escape tyranny, claim their independence and issue a call to arms, if necessary. According to Graham, “if not for Muslim fundamentalists, self-righteous Christian practitioners and the political conservatives, we would not find ourselves in such difficult straits. No one can deny the brutal treatment we’ve received from them since time immemorial. It is clear by their actions and words that they will not allow us to live in peace. Even our religious and conservative allies and supporters know we must separate in order to secure our freedom.”

Recently Graham petitioned for the release of a Gay couple in Malawi, being imprisoned for being in a committed Gay relationship. The case continues to seek a resolution. He also successfully negotiated with Gambian authorities to suspend their decree to initiate beheadings of all Homosexuals arrested in an undercover sweep by secret police squads. “No one can deny that we as a people have been savagely oppressed for more than 3,000 years and it shows no sign of ending. Even today, our very existence is outlawed in more than 80 nations around the world. All that we seek is to have our own small , politically sovereign territory and to be left in peace. We want nothing more and will take care of the rest. We will prosper and succeed or despair and fail, according to our own merit, drive and talent.” A FIGS official stressed that their commitment to equality is a fundamental principle of the FIGS and they will welcome all Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender people to their new Gay homeland. “We will also welcome all of our non-Gay Heterosexual Allies who care to join us in one of Mankind’s greatest experiments, the first majority-Gay nation in recorded human history,” according to Jack Flannigan, acting Press Secretary.

Graham’s platform in this week’s election included plans to consolidate the organizations resources and broaden their global communications. They plan to launch The Gay News Network in June. It will focus on international news coverage for the global Gay community utilizing internet podcasts and its international media affiliates around the world. Members of the Communications Department have been working with the New York headquarters of CBS, one of the major television networks in the United States in preparation for the launch. According to Jack Flannigan, “At the rapid rate we are currently seeing, we expect to have delegates installed in every country in the world by the end of the year. Their duty will be to represent all of our members within their district, in essence acting as our Consular sections.”

FIGS is stressing in their mission statement that all of their members will have equal representation. Officials stress that they will not allow the organization to become a de facto state for wealthy Americans or privileged Europeans, but will instead represent every spectrum and every demographic of the “global Gay rainbow of humanity.”

Help us stop the torture and international abuse of Gays everywhere and lend your voice in establishing a free and independent Gay State!

It is not freedom when you are only allowed as much leverage as your masters are comfortable in affording you. Just think of it…what other minorities have endured 3,000 years of murder, execution, imprisonment and beatings? And now in the 21st century, the global Gay community are second class citizens at best, rooted out for extermination at worst.

PLEASE LEND YOUR NAME TO OUR PETITION. And thank you.

Say YES to the Establishment of new Gay Nation-State and express your support to all international Political leaders and UN Members.

Preamble: We, Citizens of the World, representing every nation on Earth, Gay citizens and non-Gay citizens alike, recognize that, Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender People have endured thousands of years of persecution in the lands of their birth. We acknowledge that in 80 nations on Earth, expressing ones Homosexuality is a crime, punishable by death, extreme prison sentences, public lashings or hard labor. We also acknowledge that Gay people are discriminated against in virtually every nation on Earth; that in nearly all countries they are treated as second class citizens at best and as a people that should be exterminated at worst. We recognize that Gay people everywhere deserve liberty, equality, freedom and democracy. In as much that nations cannot or will not accommodate the rights of this oppressed minority, we support the establishment of a Gay Nation-State where they may pursue life, liberty, freedom and happiness, without oppression from an alternate majority, without infringing on the rights of the majorities in every other nation on Earth that has a majority Heterosexual population.

We recognize that Gay citizens everywhere are a people – one people, one tribe and they share a unique status as a minority population that no other minority group inherently owns and should therefore, be afforded the territorial rights of a recognized minority. We recoginze that it is our cultural traits and our innate being that targets us for oppression, abuse and execution. It is not a choice, nor something that can or should be squashed. And free people everywhere recognize that the Gay community is targeted for violence and extermination because of their unique and innate being that brings them together as one people.

We acknowledge that their oppression at the hands of the majority non-Gay Heterosexual governments is so massive and widespread as to exist in a full 95 percent of all nations on Earth. While advancements in their human rights have occurred, they have done so at a very slow pace, extending over many centuries. We also must admit that Gay people have been marginalized and their advances have often been repealed by governments unfriendly to their plight and political administrations in need of a political and cultural scapegoat, as government often are.

Furthermore we wish to acknowledge that Gay citizens are oppressed in ways beyond the oppression witnessed in most other minorities. The physical violence, psychological terrorism and financial hardships imposed on Gay people worldwide, goes so far as to prevent them from gathering in sizable numbers as other minorities have done, resulting in their oppression being largely invisible to the outside world.

Toward a resolution that would refrain from the continued oppression and violence afflicted on Gay citizens, but without sacrificing the rights, cultural and religious beliefs of the vast majority of nations on Earth, we submit that a territory be transferred to Gay people to create their own Gay Nation-State where they can flourish and prosper or struggle and despair, according to their own abilities and innate talents and quest for democracy.

Therefore, as Citizens of the World, representing every nation on planet Earth, we endorse the establishment of a Gay Nation-State and support the actions to create a peaceful transfer of a territory where they can create their own culture and live to the best of their ability.

Please offer us your city and country of residence. Also your email is appreciated so that we may contact you with additional information on our development. We will strictly protect your identity and under no circumstances will we share your information with third parties. Thank you.

Please take a moment and click here to go directly to the petition above and support us in name. Thank you!